Artie Hoerning of the South Shore Fish Market in Island Park, Long Island Passes Away

Longtime friend of The Fishing Line and personal friend of mine Artie Hoerning of the South Shore Fish Market in Island Park, Long Island passed away on Monday (2/20). If it had anything to do with fishing Artie had it mastered. The fisherman, fishmonger and owner of Artie’s South Shore Fish & Grill in Island Park, died suddenly at home on Monday at the age of 70.

Artie was a terrific friend of mine. My wife and I tried to eat as his place at least twice a month and sometimes once a week and Artie would always come out and visit at the table with us. The Fishing Line for the last 10 years held our annual Christmas party with our advertising captains at Arties Seafood place in Island Park and he’d come out and have a drink with us and BS with all the captains and their wives at the table. “There’s been a lot fish killed at this table,” Artie would always say and it never failed to tickle my fancy to those of the assembled captains.

On Tuesday nights during the fall/winter, I tried to attend as many as I could, the Tuesday night “fishing club” get together at the restaurant. It wasn’t so much a fishing club as it was some friends/fishermen getting together, putting up $20 each, Artie deciding what the main course would be, then having the staff feed us till we were full. Some of us brought dessert, others fresh tomatoes and mozzarella from their gardens, wine…whatever and we would eat, drink and be merry anglers for a few hours taking us away from the day to day toil of work or being retired in some of the members cases.

Artie was a frequent caller in to the Fishing Line radio program and co-hosted as a guest on the Fishing TV television program several times specializing in fluke fishing. “I learned a ton about fluke and buck tailing from Artie that’s for sure. After being on the TV show his first time on light tackle bucktailing fluke, he insisted the crew back to the restaurant where we feasted, and I mean feasted, on cans of lump crabmeat and just anything in the restaurant. He kept telling the staff to keep the sea food coming.

Arties’ generosity was never lacking and his hospitality skills first class. Artie was a friend to all.

I could go on and on, but it is sad at this moment in time to remember the great fishing trips, fun stories and having a secret drink of JW black in his office at the restaurant, but in time they will regain their momentum, fun, friendship, sentiment and they will truly bring the smile to my face as they are all meant to do because Artie was that kind of guy.

For all the year I knew Artie, his hair was brilliant white against that which was always the dark tanned skin of a bay man. His hair was always perfect, just like the picture of the man the rowboat in Goodfellas with the two dogs. “Hey look, one looks one way the other looking the other way” as Joe Pesci would say. You see during the summer and fall months; pretty much every fluke that was sold in that restaurant was caught by Artie himself in his 16 foot dory with 15 horse engine. The same boat we filmed one of the TV shows on. He got up every morning, fished hard all day, dropped the fish off at the restaurant then home to clean up only to return clean fish and run his business till closing time. Every single day. Not an easy life but life he chose loved and raised a family and grandchildren with…the life we loved for him because he was happy. The last few years the skin was still dark olive, but his hair now in a white crewcut. “Easier to maintain,” he would tell me.

In the last year or two Artie has this great idea he and I would bounce back and forth. He wanted the state to raise striped bass in hatcheries on the Hudson River like salmon. I thought the idea awesome and he said when he worked to out some more he’d come on the radio show to talk about it.

I was so looking forward to seeing Artie again come April when I come north for my NY Guitar Show and his Buffalo calamari and cold clams on the half shell. . .

On Saturday March 4, The Fishing Line radio program will dedicate the half hour to the memory of Artie Hoerning with friends and family members invited to call the show between 4 and 4:30 p.m., to give their stories. Call 631-888-8811 to participate.

There will be a wake at Perry Funeral Home in Lynbrook on Thursday and Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. The funeral, at St. Raymond’s Church in East Rockaway, will be at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.

I’m sure going to miss Artie.
Rich Johnson /The Fishing Line

The following was written by Erica Marcus, food reporter for Newsday

For 33 years, Artie’s has been one of Long Island’s best fish markets. To say that it focuses on local fish is an understatement: its specialty has been fish hooked, netted or trapped by Hoerning — with assists from the community of Nassau County fishermen who regard the store as their informal clubhouse. In 1999, Hoerning opened an adjoining restaurant that, despite its extreme modesty (Styrofoam plates, plastic cups) is Nassau County’s most dependable source of fresh, local fish in season. For the last three years, it has been named one of Newsday’s Top 100 restaurants.

Hoerning was 6 years old when his family moved to the South Shore from Queens. “My father was a banker, but his first love was fishing,” he told Newsday in 1999. As a young man, he tried to follow his father’s path, carrying a briefcase during the week and a tackle box on the weekends. But one evening, after his train home had been canceled, he found himself on the LIRR platform with “people pushing and yelling,” he recalled. “They were like cattle. It made me sick.” That commute turned him around, and Hoerning decided to make his favorite hobby into a business. He first worked for another fish market and then, in July 1974, opened Artie’s.

One of Hoerning’s most frequent fishing buddies was David Pasternack, chef-partner of Manhattan’s celebrated seafood restaurant Esca. Pasternack said Wednesday that the two men had been fishing together for almost 40 years (starting when the chef was a teenager) and that Hoerning had an unerring “knack” for catching fish. “He knew the bay, he kept records, he listened to the water,” he said. “And more than that, he was tenacious. He would not give up. ‘One more drift’ was his motto.”

Pasternack, who has access to the best fish in the world, could be found buying flounder at Artie’s. But, he said, the relationship was “first, last and always a friendship.”
Hoerning, who lived and docked his boat Smokey in East Rockaway, is survived by two daughters, Christina Hoerning of East Rockaway and Cara Lee Hoerning Filomio of Long Beach; son-in-law Christopher Filomio; grandchildren Melia and Kai Filomio, and scores of nieces and nephews, most of whom worked, at one time or another, at Artie’s. His wife, Christine Hoerning, died in 2014. The business will be closed through the weekend.

There will be a wake at Perry Funeral Home in Lynbrook on Thursday and Friday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. The funeral, at St. Raymond’s Church in East Rockaway, will be at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.

This just in from a Fishing line fan..."RICH,
AM SORRY FOR THE LOSS OF YOUR FRIEND ARTIE. I NEVER MET ARTIE BUT AFTER READING THE STORY YOU WROTE IN THE FISHING LINE I FEEL LIKE I'VE KNOWN HIM FOR YEARS. I KNOW THAT WHEN ARTIE READS WHAT YOU WROTE HE WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER YOU AND ALL THE GOOD TIMES YOU SHARED TOGETHER. TIGHT LINES.
GLENN F.TIPPING

TFL Radio To Remember Artie Hoerning This Saturday
As you may have read in Newsday, but certainly in our newsletters, my friend and fishing legend / restaurateur Artie Hoerning died a week ago Monday. He was a true legend and bayman for most of his 70 years. The Fishing Line radio program will be dedicating this week's full radio show to the memory and life of Artie Hoerning. I would ask any of you that knew Artie either through fishing or just dining at his South Shore Market call in to our show on Saturday (3/4) between 4 to 4:30 pm and share your stories, memories and anecdotes with us and our listeners. Artie was a fine man, a friend and deserves to be remembered for the many lives he touched in so many different ways. Call 631-888-8811 this Saturday and tune into The Fishing Line on WGBB 1240AM and our new simulcast station W240DS 95.9FM. and live streaming at www.thefishingline.com as we remember Artie Hoerning.